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USS Pennsylvania
Captained by Mitchell Smith. Originally the USS Utah, she was renamed after the successful and recently sunk & famed USS Pennslyvania BB-38. Built to the Maine Sub-class, "Pennsy's" crew was made up of many of the same men on BB-38, with more men coming from the recently rescued from the similar USS Kentucky. Unlike the Lousiana sub-class, Pennslyvania ago itself was its own sub sub class, as she had a revised AA compliment of 3in/70 Mark 26 AA guns, augmenting the Bofors and Oerlikons. As such, she had a slightly different superstructure. World War II service Commissioned in 1946, USS Pennsylvania served a distinct role. Deployed to the Pacific after a brief shakedown, she became the flagship of the northern fleet, deployed to action in the Aleutins along with the USS New Jersey and USS Shangri-La. Encountering the IJN Amagi, IJN Senjo, and IJN Takao, she managed to heavily damage the Amagi and Takao, and Senjo along with the small escort of destroyers. USS Pennsylvania became infamous as the "Phantom of the Aleutians", as she was stationed out of BB-38s old post in the North Pacific. She is famous for her role in the Battle of Adak, where the Japanese North Fleet tried to island hop across to Alaska, launching an attack on Adak island. Encountering the North Fleet made up of the IJN Nagato, IJN Fusō, IJN Satsuma, IJN Izu, and IJN Unzen. USS Pennslyvania fired on the Japanese fleet, before Shangri-La aircraft managed to sink the Izu. Heavily damaged, the Satsuma later surcumbed to a Torpedo from USS Tigershark before she could be repaired. USS Pennslyvania then sailed East to Bemerton Washington for repairs and refeul. In transit, one of her OSU-2 aircraft spotted a Torpedo wake speeding for her. While she undertook desperate evasive maneuvers, the torpedo stuck admidship. Her destroyer escort attempted to find the offending submarine to little avail. Now limping, she arrived in Washington with the New Jersey, being relieved by the USS Wisconsin and USS South Dakota respectively. Afterwards, she and the New Jersey would be sent to be apart of the Main Battle Fleet under the control of Admiral Nimitz. The first operation she would undergoe is the bombardment of the Marschall islands. Joining the bombardment of the Marshall Islands, she was tasked with hunting down the Japanese fleet comprised of the IJN Aratama, IJN Zuikaku, IJN Sensohō, and the Nagato. Heavily damaged by fire from the Aratama, she was forced to withdraw, but she was able to heavily damage the Zuikaku, and Sensohō. By late 1948, she had amassed an impressive score of kills. However, in need of re-fitment, she sailed for Norfolk at the end of the year. During this time, kamikaze attacks had become more common, so she was refitted with additional 8x 3in/70 guns. Attached with the newly commissioned USS Bethlehem, the USS Pennsylvania returned to action, she was immediately dispatched to the USS Alliance task force, and served as an escort, due to her updated AA armament. Off the Marianas, she was hit by 2 kamikaze bombers, and quickly caught fire. Heavily damaged, she sailed for the American base on Marshall Islands, where men from the USS Vestal worked around the clock to make temporary repairs. After repairs were finalized in Pearl Harbor, the Pennsylvania was redeployed to be in command of her own task force, as large capital ships from the Dwindling Atlantic campaign started arriving in early 1949. Tasked as apart of the north fleet, she sailed for Port Arthur, arriving in May 1949. Here she was attached to one of her storied Taskforce compromised of the USS New Jersey, USS Shangri-La, and USS Bethlehem. With the war starting to close, she joined the USS Alliance at beach Cadillac. Shelling continually, it's estimated she expended around 80 salvos in total. Present at the Surrender of Japan, she was anchored behind the USS Alliance. For her actions in WW2, she was awarded 13 Battlestars. Mothballed for the next few years, her speed kept her a viable asset as opposed to the other warships. Korean War Reactivated for the Korean War, she remained a largely bombarding force, but by the end of the war she was mothballed again. Second Reactivation In 1960, with the Cold War tensions flairing, she was reactivated once again. First taking part in patrols off the coast of Russia, she was famously apart of the tense standoff with the Russian battleship Sovetskaya Rossiya. During this standoff, each battleship famously came within 100m over each other with guns pointed directly at each other. However, both the Sovetskaya Rossiya and Pennslyvania both separated at the same time keeping the peace. In need of a slight refit, she returned to Norfolk for a hull cleaning and repainting. She returned to active service, and was attached to the Atlantic fleet with the New Jersey. As flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, she became the official boat of Kennedy's European tour in late 1961. During this tour, she was moored at Gransk, the first battle of WW2. After a brief conference with top euro leaders, Kennedy returned and she sailed to the Suez Canal, and continued her round the world journey to Japan. Arriving in early 1962, she was moored in Tokyo Bay. However, when a minor earthquake struck Hokkaido, she was deployed with the rest of Kennedys fleet to send relief. From there, Kennedy transferred to an aircraft to fly back to the U.S. As such, Pennsylvania remained in Japan for 4 months as sailors helped to rebuild parts of Hokkaido. By the time reconstruction was complete, Pennsylvania was appointed the new flagship of the East Fleet. With this new appointment, she regularly patrolled the South China Sea, and the straight of Japan, to help discourage Soviet influences from influencing Japan. In need of another refit, she sailed to Norfolk again, being relieved by USS New Jersey. Arriving in early 1964, she was quickly put into dry dock where she was once again repainted, and her sensors were completely updated. During this, her hanger was decreased, so she could only carry 2 helicopters instead of her previous 3. Additionally, she was equipped with Nuclear tipped shells, the last battleship to be equipped with them. During shakedown during 1965, she was deployed to the Blockade of Cuba, where she famously confronted the lead container ship containing nuclear warheads With tense diplomatic tensions, she eventually backed off on her Captains orders. Her captain would later be the subject of a court martial, but this was later overruled. Once the conflict was over, she returned to normal patrols in the Atlantic theater. She famously was apart of the Apollo 11 recovery, where she first craned the capsule to her deck, before transferring to the USS Hornet. However, in 1969, under LBJs administration, all Montanas were decommissioned as maintence was starting to skyrocket, and the need to install overdue missile systems led to a unreasonable cost. However, if she had been upgraded, she would have been one of the most versatile ships to ever, and there is still a case to be made to bring her out of retirement and upgrade her. On July 6th, 1970, she was officially decommissioned. She was bought by the USS Pennsylvania Conservation Fund, and berthed on the Delaware River, across from the USS Olympia. Category:United States Navy Category:Battleship